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Louisville's Sierra Nevada receives $10 million NASA contract

Louisville-based Sierra Nevada Space Systems has received a $10 million NASA contract as part of NASA's plan to launch American astronauts from U.S. soil to the International Space Station using commercial spacecraft.

Sierra Nevada Space Systems was one of three companies receiving the contracts. In addition, Boeing received $9.93 million and Space Exploration Technologies Corp., of Hawthorne, Calif., received $9.58 million.

NASA said that during the first contract phase, the companies will begin the process of ensuring that the crew transportation systems will meet agency safety requirements and standards to launch the astronauts to the space station, thus "ending the agency's reliance on Russia for these transportation services."

"These contracts represent important progress in restoring human spaceflight to the United States," said Phil McAllister, director of Commercial Spaceflight Development Division at NASA headquarters in Washington.

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